Whiting Brothers Gas Station #78/(Newkirk Service & Gas)

The Interstate 40 frontage road that passes through Newkirk follows the roadbed of the former U.S. Highway 66. The gas station southeast of the junction of the I-40 frontage road with Rt. 129 in Newkirk used to be Whiting Brothers station #78 and part of the iconic Route 66. The gas station building has survived from the heyday of Route 66 travel in the late 1940s to the early 1960s and has become Newkirk Service & Gas. The station displays a vintage shield sign for "US Route 66" above its gas pump canopy and now doubles as the local Post Office. Most of the rest of the buildings that once welcomed travelers along Rt. 66 to Newkirk have been demolished or are in ruins, including the old post office, Wilkerson's (Gulf) gas station, and a Shamrock service station.

Whiting Brothers was an independent chain of gas stations started by four brothers with a single station in St. Johns, Arizona. They first sold gasoline in St. Johns from their Ford dealership in 1917 and opened a second gas station in 1927 along Rt. 66 in Holbrook, Arizona. The business topped out at around 150 locations in the Southwest later in the century, most including a residence for the operator. There were eventually a number of Whiting Brothers gas stations along Rt. 66 from Oklahoma to California, including Number 78 in Newkirk. The chain became known for their huge, bright yellow billboards with red lettering, chosen because those colors would easily stand out. The red and yellow colors were matched as bands painted onto the facade of the white-colored gas station buildings and the base of the gas pumps.

The brothers were able to build new stations cheaply during the Great Depression because they had their own lumber business (Whiting Brothers Land and Timber) and sawmill. The brothers operated on a commission basis with the operator of each station and allowed them to live in the accompanying residence. The company became known for having lower-cost gasoline than the major chains since they could buy in bulk but weren't restricted in what they could charge for the product like the name-brand stations were. They first sold Pathfinder gasoline and oil but later switched to Shell and Phillips Petroleum. The company began a promotion in 1930 where customers could show a white card printed with the locations of Whiting Brothers stations and receive a penny discount per gallon. The first motel by the company opened in 1955 in Arizona, the Whiting Brothers Deluxe Motel in Holbrook.

An author published a guide to driving the length of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1946, when a U.S. population jubilant from winning World War II was ready to travel the country. The entry describing Newkirk mentioned that there were four gas stations in the town of 115 residents. Newkirk in 1946 also offered two diners, a few tourist cabins, and De Baca's Trading Post. The town's claim to fame was reportedly its location at a side road leading to the Conchas Dam, a 1930s Works Progress Administration water control project that was rebuilt by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the 1980s.

The section of the former Rt. 66 between Montoya in Quay County and Cuervo in Guadalupe County has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The road is drivable from Montoya heading west; Newkirk is 12 miles west of Montoya. Modern maps place the location of Rt. 66 in this area along the modern interstate, along Interstate 40/State Rt. 54. The former route of Rt. 66 appears to follow what modern maps call the "I-40 Frontage Road", north of I-40 at Newkirk and just south of railroad tracks.

Whiting Service Stations was one of a handful of companies combined under Kaibob Industries in 1969, offering gasoline, lumber, and apartment houses. Total sales topped $20 million in the new company. Eighty-eight service stations were still in operation in 1969, and there were plans to open more. By the 2010s, only one Whiting Brothers gas station still displayed the original signage (restored) with the shield and the letters W and B, along Rt. 66 in Moriarty, New Mexico.

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